(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it received in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit responses from the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Office of Intelligence and Analysis of Homeland Security, showing the Biden administration refused to “confirm or deny” that former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was targeted for surveillance under the Transportation Security Administration Quiet Skies terrorist watch program.  

President Donald Trump has nominated Gabbard to be the next director of national intelligence. Her Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for January 30.

Judicial Watch filed the December 2024, lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for records on former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard being targeted for surveillance under the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) “Quiet Skies” terrorist watch program (Judicial Watch Inc. v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-03427)). The Transportation Security Administration is a component of the Department of Homeland Security. As noted in the December 11 court order, Judicial Watch sought to expedite the lawsuit.  

Judicial Watch sued after Homeland Security failed to respond to three August 5, 2024, FOIA requests for records of Homeland Security Department and Transportation Security Administration officials regarding both Gabbard and its Quiet Skies program.  

The Biden Administration’s responses, all dated January 17, 2025, include a letter signed by a Homeland Security FOIA officer, informing Judicial Watch that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) “conducted a search for records responsive to the FOIA request that do not tend to confirm or deny any individual’s status on or off a Federal Watch List and found no responsive records.”

Similarly, the Transportation Security Administration wrote: “TSA cannot confirm or deny the existence of records that would tend to confirm a particular individual’s status on or off a Federal Watch List, including Quiet Skies, which are protected by statute and therefore exempt from disclosure. 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(3). TSA conducted a search for records responsive to the FOIA request and, pursuant to FOIA and its exemptions, … is processing any responsive records that do not tend to confirm or deny any individual’s status on or off a Federal Watch List.”

Homeland Security reported it reviewed 506 pages of responsive records and produced 13 pages initially, which are redacted of any substantive information.

On August 4, 2024, it was reported that “several Federal Air Marshal whistleblowers have come forward with information showing that former U.S. Representative and Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is currently enrolled in the Quiet Skies program.”

 On August 23, 2024, the House Oversight Committee wrote to David P. Pekoske, the administrator for the Transportation Security Administration, that Gabbard was added “to the Quiet Skies program on July 23, 2024 – one day after she criticized the Biden administration in an interview.”

Gabbard, who on Novebmer 13, 2024, was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next director of national intelligence, subsequently confirmed the reports, asserting in a video she posted on X that she had learned that three air marshals were assigned to watch her every time she “traveled in the airport and on the flight.” Gabbard added, “TSA deployed explosive canine detection teams and a TSA explosion specialist.”

According to the DHS web site, “Quiet Skies” is a “tool that allows the Federal Air Marshal Service to more efficiently deploy law enforcement resources to focus on travelers who may present an elevated risk to aviation security.”

“The Biden administration’s decision to place Tulsi Gabbard on a terrorist watchlist was abusive on its face,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Given her pending nomination to director of national intelligence, we hope the Trump administration takes a different approach and provides more details on this scandal.”

Judicial Watch recently reported that the Transportation Security Administration, a federal agency created after 9/11 to protect the nation’s transportation system, has no idea how aviation security was impacted when:

[I]t plucked Federal Air Marshal Service agents from their critical duties to help with the Mexican border crisis. Air Marshals operate under the Transportation Security Administration, and in the last few years the agency has forced the highly trained aviation security specialists to assist Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with the onslaught of illegal immigrants entering the country under Biden’s disastrous open border policies.”

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